The present invention generally relates to dispensing devices, and it is specifically directed to a dispensing device comprising, primarily, a container portion within which viscous material may be held, as well as a perforated, curved disc element through which the viscous material may be dispensed by extrusion in a somewhat controlled fashion. As will be discussed, the configuration of the present apparatus makes it particularly effective for use as a pet food dispenser.
Apparatuses for dispensing viscous materials are well known in the prior art. One pertinent example of such apparatus is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,951 to Moure, et al. In fact, Moure discloses a dispensing package for gel and semi-solid cleaning and skin care compositions. The package includes a container for holding the composition and an apertured dispensing sheet that is to rest upon the composition. The perimeter of the apertured dispensing sheet is configured to conform to the interior geometry of the container (e.g., circular or rectangular), except that the dispensing sheet has a diameter less than the interior diameter(s) of the fully vertical or tapered walled container so that the sheet may descend downward with the diminishing level of material within the container as force is applied to the sheet and extruded material is removed.
In an embodiment of the Moure package in which the container component has tapered sidewalls, the dispensing sheet is flexible and has flexible, semicircular tabs extending outward from its perimeter. So, as the sheet advances toward the bottom of the container, its tabs, when they eventually come into contact with the converging container sidewalls, flex upward as the sheet is further forced toward the container bottom. Furthermore, if a user applies a force that distributes unevenly throughout the Moure dispensing sheet, the flexibility of the sheet's perimeter helps prevent the sheet from breaking, permanently deforming or possibly becoming misaligned within the container when a perimeter section of the sheet impinges on the container sidewall.
Another example of relevant prior art is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,182 to Marte, et al. Although similar to that disclosed in Moure, a distinguishing characteristic of the apparatus described in Marte is that its corresponding dispensing element is a substantially rigid, plate-like perforated device that is non-planar in the respect that it features an alternating pattern of raised and recessed areas. The purpose of those recessed areas is to collect and retain any water, dirt, or other foreign debris that are transferred to the dispensing element by a finger or other implement that presses against it. Furthermore, the plate-like dispensing element is substantially rigid, unlike its counterpart element disclosed in Moure, in order that downward pressure applied to it is distributed fairly evenly across its entire dimensions. However, much like Moure, Marte discloses that the dispensing element may have peripheral tabs that upwardly flex upon impact with the interior sidewall of the container element.
Nevertheless, while the aforementioned and other prior art devices may be perfectly adequate for extrusion dispensing semi-solid matter at the press of a finger or other implement in a wide variety of applications, the present inventor notes that none of the prior art devices are well adapted to function specifically as pet animal feeding devices. To wit, known prior art devices are not ideally configured to dispense viscous food material in a way that is particularly accommodating to the arcuate path of the lapping motion that an animal's tongue makes to ingest food and liquid.
For example, were a substantially flexible dispensing sheet to be used (e.g., Moure) in an animal food dispensing device, downward deflection of the dispensing sheet, in response to a load applied by an animal tongue and opposing force exerted by semi-solid food material disposed below the sheet, would cause food material to primarily extrude through sheet openings located within the vicinity of the rapidly moving tongue load placement. That is because, as the sheet flexes downward, food material located within the area in which it vertically deflects is pierced through the sheet openings. However, since the tongue swipes through that area so rapidly, the sheets deflection can be quite counter productive to feeding. For one, the animal's tongue momentarily covers sheet apertures within much of the area of deflection and, therefore, inhibits food from being extruded in the deflection zone. Secondly, since load is not evenly distributed to areas outside the vicinity of tongue-sheet contact, the sheet's flexing necessitates that the animal apply greater force in order to extrude food through the sheet apertures that are momentarily outside of the contact area and unobstructed by the tongue. Furthermore, because of the quick upward return of the animal's tongue in the lapping motion, the animal is essentially required to dispense food with a first tongue motion before being able to actually gather it with a subsequent one. And because the sheet may, depending on its flexibility, quickly return to its planar profile as the tongue load is removed, much of the viscous material that was extruded in that first tongue lap my retreat back under the dispensing sheet just prior to being able to be scooped in the immediate next one. So, even though the very purpose of such a dispensing container may be to meter an animal's consumption, a flexible dispensing sheet element may actually over-restrict the container's food dispensation rate to the point of frustrating an animal.
Conversely, using a substantially rigid, planar and/or plate-like dispensing sheet of the prior art to control the output of viscous food can also be problematic. For one, the inflexibility of it may be understandably discomforting to the animal's tongue, as it presents an abrupt barrier against the tongue's downward, arcuate scooping motion. Also, dispensed food material can become aggregated along the hard-to-reach circumferential comer formed by the container sidewall(s) and outer edge of a plate-like sheet. This could ultimately cause a significant portion of the dispensed food material to be wasted, if the animal cannot retrieve it. Even worse, an animal could end up getting its tongue pinched, or even lacerated, while attempting to pry it into these perimeter areas in order to extract food. After all, there is likely to be a small gap between the rim of a dispensing sheet and the container sidewall for enabling the sheet to descend vertically within the container.
Consequently, the present inventor recognizes a need for an improved dispensing apparatus that is specially adapted to facilitate the controlled consumption of non-solid pet foods by dogs, cats, and potentially other animals, without posing the limitations and hazards of prior art extrusion dispensing apparatuses. The present invention for a viscous food dispensing apparatus substantially fulfills this need.